It was a pocket world formed entirely of ultimate light.
Uesugi Erii's eyelashes trembled slightly as she slowly opened her eyes. Her deep rose-colored pupils drifted across her surroundings with a hollow calm. In that instant, she seemed to have returned to her former state, the doll-like girl devoid of vitality, emotionless and distant.
She stared at the world before her.
Pure light flowed endlessly toward her, colorless yet incredibly gentle. In every direction, above and below, stretched an infinite expanse of white shaped entirely by light.
For a fleeting moment, Erii thought she had ascended to heaven.
Instinctively, she curled into herself, hugging her toys tightly, like a small red kitten cornered by a massive black bear, too frightened to resist.
She was sitting in the palm of Ultraman.
Erii knew who Ultraman was.
The movie described him as an omnipotent god born from the will of the universe itself.
How could such an existence come to kill her?
Erii believed she must have done something terribly wrong.
She buried her face into her knees, leaving only her eyes exposed, quietly peeking at Rejedo like a frightened kitten.
Malrick noticed something was off.
Why was Erii curled up like a small animal, trembling in fear?
She was the one who had purchased the trial. Why did it look as though he had come to harm her instead?
His first instinct was that his overwhelming presence was simply too intimidating.
But when he traced causality backward, the reason became immediately clear.
For a moment, Malrick felt both amused and helpless.
"Uesugi Erii," he said calmly, "you chose my trial. Are you prepared to begin?"
Erii cautiously lifted her head. Her red hair slipped forward as she hesitated, then reached into her arms and pulled out a small notebook. She wrote quickly, then held it up.
"Does Rejedo Ultraman not kill small monsters?"
She had misunderstood.
In her mind, small monsters like herself were dealt with by other Ultramen. Rejedo was meant for terrifying beings like Giga Endra.
"Do not worry," Malrick replied gently. "Rejedo represents justice and order. The part of him I embody is Cosmos Ultraman, a protector who treats monsters as friends."
His voice was steady, warm, and authoritative.
Erii stared at him blankly, confusion clouding her eyes as if she had just woken from a long dream.
Slowly, the emptiness in her gaze faded. A trace of light returned to her pupils, and the icy indifference on her face softened.
Cosmos Ultraman was her favorite.
This Giant of Light did not indiscriminately destroy monsters. He listened to them.
That meant she was not going to die.
Instead, she was being healed.
Erii suddenly realized something.
Aside from feeling physically weaker, she felt better than she ever had before.
The constant pressure was gone. The roaring presence deep in her heart, the beast threatening to break free, had vanished.
It was Cosmos.
It really was Cosmos.
She lifted her notebook again and wrote carefully.
"Can I meet Cosmos Ultraman?"
Her words carried no destructive power now. The Dragon bloodline that once turned her speech into a lethal force had already been stripped away.
She did not yet realize this.
She simply held up the notebook, like a child timidly reaching toward the unknown.
Malrick did not answer immediately. Instead, he asked, "Are you certain you want Cosmos Ultraman to be the vessel of your trial?"
Erii tilted her head, clearly not understanding the question.
After a brief pause, Malrick clapped his hands together, gently enclosing Erii within his grasp.
"Then the trial begins."
Though it was called a trial, it was in truth a perfect illusion.
Malrick's mastery of illusion had long surpassed conventional limits. He constructed realities using the rules he governed, indistinguishable from the real world.
The trial prepared for Erii followed the story of Cosmos Ultraman.
Malrick did not make things difficult for her.
He placed her into the illusion as part of the Space Development Center, replacing Musashi. He himself merged with her as Cosmos Ultraman.
Through repeated battles, Erii gradually adapted to the power, learning how to move, fight, and protect.
Malrick added several additional challenges, trials of determination, compassion, perseverance, and courage.
Stories like Jijera's Flower, and encounters with monsters such as Ye Fu and Speeder, became tests of her heart.
Erii loved every moment.
She truly believed she had left her room and become Cosmos Ultraman. She even forgot about her brother waiting at home.
Whenever a monster appeared, she raised the Courage Stick.
After transforming, she repeatedly released the Full Moon Wave, again and again.
She was a small monster herself, so after becoming Ultraman, she naturally felt responsible for protecting other monsters.
On the rare occasions when she encountered truly malicious beings that had to be destroyed, she did not hesitate.
But afterward, she always felt sorrow.
The first time she defeated a monster, Erii sat by a window, watching the sunset, and said softly to Malrick, "The world is very gentle. They just never had the chance to see it."
Months passed within the illusion.
Outside, only an instant elapsed.
When Erii finally opened her eyes again, she had returned to the pocket world of light.
The enormous form of Rejedo Ultraman dissolved into countless particles of light.
The hand supporting her vanished, and Erii began to fall.
As she descended, she saw Malrick standing within the fading light.
"Protect this gentle world, Erii," his voice echoed. "From now on, you are Cosmos Ultraman."
She froze.
This was the farewell scene between Cosmos and Musashi.
Before she could feel sadness, before she could ask when they would meet again, the world shifted.
She was back in her room.
"I'm back," she murmured.
Dressed in her miko outfit, Erii sat on the floor in a duck-sitting posture, quietly surveying the familiar yet distant space.
The months within the illusion had been the most wonderful journey she had experienced in over ten years.
Now it was over.
The voice that had spoken from within her was gone.
Clatter.
The Courage Stick rolled from her arms.
Erii hurriedly picked it up and hugged it close.
At that moment, the massive reinforced door slid open with a sharp hiss.
Shuichi Gen rushed in with researchers, doctors, and nurses close behind.
"Erii, do not touch that dialogue box. We still cannot confirm…" He stopped abruptly, then sighed in relief. "Good. It seems you did not click it."
But Erii raised the Courage Stick and said calmly, "Brother, I became light."
"What?"
Shuichi Gen stared at her, stunned.
Before he could even process the fact that Erii was speaking, he watched in disbelief as his sister transformed into a human-sized Cosmos Ultraman.
His understanding of the world shattered instantly.
Several days later.
Malrick observed every individual who had activated the system.
This was the first time he had distributed so many opportunities on such a large scale.
Those who escaped their original fates were now living entirely new stories.
Watching the threads of destiny shift and realign, Malrick felt a quiet sense of fulfillment.
He finally understood the pleasure experienced by beings like Eternity and Death, the joy of reshaping fate itself.
On this day, Lu Mingfei, still recovering from a failed confession, Chu Zihang, who had mastered the power of the God of Death, and many others who had awakened extraordinary abilities, all set out for the Arctic Ocean.
The system's first execution mission awaited them.
Their target was the Black King and Odin.